MONDAY: Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports the breakdown: there’s a $500K signing bonus and Madson will earn $6.5MM in 2016 and $7.5MM a year over 2017-18. The deal also includes incentives up to $1.25MM a year based on games finished.
There’s also a one-time, $250K trade bonus, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets.
SUNDAY: Reliever Ryan Madson and the Athletics have agreed to terms on a three-year, $22MM deal, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports (Twitter links). Madson can also receive up to $1.25MM per year in incentives based on the number of games he finishes. He is an All Bases Covered client.
That the 35-year-old Madson would receive a three-year deal over $20MM would have been unthinkable just a year ago. Madson did not pitch in 2012 through 2014 due to injury, then signed what at the time seemed to be an insignificant minor-league deal with the Royals last January. In 2015, though, he reemerged as something close to the dominant reliever he once was with the Phillies, posting a 2.13 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 63 1/3 innings in Kansas City. He also threw in the mid-90s, and his ground-ball rate (55.0%) was the highest of his career.
Madson figures to serve in a setup role in Oakland, although he has closing experience and could potentially move into the closer’s role in case Sean Doolittle, who missed much of 2015 with shoulder trouble, gets hurt again. Nonetheless, $22MM is a surprising risk for the Athletics to take with an aging reliever. MLBTR projected Madson would get three years, but at a more modest $15MM; Madson’s $22MM total eclipses that of, for example, former Athletic Luke Gregerson, who got $18.5MM from the Astros last offseason despite being five years younger than Madson is now and having a more robust recent track record. There’s also the question of whether the Athletics will contend in 2016 after winning 68 games last season, and if not, whether spending so heavily on a 35-year-old is the right strategy.
Perhaps, though, Madson’s deal is part of a broader strategy. Madson joins Rich Hill as the second 35-year-old pitcher this winter to have a comeback 2015 season and then agree to a big-league deal with the A’s. Hill had four dominant late-season starts with the Red Sox after pitching sparingly in the Majors in the previous three seasons, and Oakland signed him for $6MM. The Athletics might feel that skepticism about players in situations like Hill’s or Madson’s presents them with opportunities that they might not otherwise have to sign talented pitchers.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Good deal for the A’s
Nice for Madson since it seemed for a while that his career was over after all the injuries. I’m not saying that the Yankees will trade Miller, but it does build up leverage if teams continue to miss out on these guys. Could be an interesting next couple days for the Yankees, Reds and Phillies.
Between this, last winter’s deals and the water-usage thing, I think Billy Beane’s given up. Somebody needs to stage an intervention.
So Beane makes a move to strengthen the bullpen, a noticeable weak point for the A’s last year, and he’s “given up”?
I’ve noticed that among a certain group of commenters, that no matter what Beane does, it means he’s trying to make the team lose. It makes no sense at all, because since he took over in 1998, the A’s have made the postseason 8 times, or about every other year since 2000. Meanwhile the Blue Jays didn’t make the postseason once in 20 years but no one trolls them in that way.
That’s because there has been no movie about the Blue Jays.
That movie really made a lot of non-Oakland fans bitter, didn’t it? It’s just a movie, and the A’s didn’t ask for it to be made. So dumb to focus on it as a way to create a real-world narrative about how Beane is “crazy” or whatever.
I don’t think he’s upset at Beane signing Madson, it’s just a lot of money for an injury plagued guy who had one good comeback year. Especially when they tend to not shell out money for offense… Unless it’s for Billy Butler…
Wrong thing to focus on: it’s not a lot of money, its more of a 68 win team trying to attract a name free agent…which needs to be done with a lot of money.
Billy Beane hasn’t won a World Series. He has done a great job of being a GM but when it comes to sports its rings that matter. When a movie gets made about you, its gonna drew both good and bad attention.
In my opinion when it comes to GMing, rings don’t matter that much. Competitive teams matter more.
That movie came out a long time ago, and Beane has led the A’s for almost 20 years now, it seems really silly to hold a specific narrative better.
Plus there was at least 3 seasons where the A’s were easily best team in MLB, but lost a game 5 by a run or two on luck plays.
i’d rather see the A’s spend this sort of money (or more) on offense. Bring back Cespedes or have a go at getting Upton. One or two signings can turn a mediocre team into anything.
Look things are never black and white. It’s not Beane is amazing or Beane is terrible. He clearly did some amazing things for the franchise early on and certainly deserves a lot of leeway, but to say he has not made some really bad moves the last couple of years would just make you sound like a Beane apologist. Josh Donaldson is the best example. As the third part in a trade for Rich Harden (who didn’t have the highest trade value), it’s an absolute coup that he got him. But he definitely dumped him for incredibly low value last off-season. When the best piece coming back is a prospect in high-A, it doesn’t really matter how good he is unless he’s a prodigy. This is coming from a dude who thought Brett Lawrie would be a superstar.
“Last couple of years?” Beane and Wollf put a team that made the postseason every year from 2012-2014. The 2015 A’s lost 36 1-run games, and people are acting like they’ve instantly irrelevant? Excuse me? Beane does need apologists, because people like you are framing things in inappropriate ways.
What’s up with saying “but to say he has not made some really bad moves the last couple of years would just make you sound like a Beane apologist”?
“Couple years?” No its one year. One. Year. Stop making it sound like the A’s stunk when they were in the postseason in 2012, 2013 and 2014. He sold slightly low on Donaldson and Moss, but he absolutely murdered the Astros, KC & the Mets on the Kazmir/Zobrist/Clippard deals, and has done very well on all the offseason moves so far.
Depending on how the A’s season goes, Billy will turn those newly acquired bullpen pieces into prospects if he needs to. He knows exactly what he’s doing.
It will be interesting to see if Madson got any type of no trade clause.
For sure he didn’t A’s wouldnt of did it
He honestly should have been fired for the Donaldson trade.No reason to trade him and for nothing.I don’t care if you cursed his mother you don’t let your personal feelings affect your job
It wasnt “for nothing” Franklin Barreto is on an Addison Russell-level of talent. Lawrie is only 25 and Nolin and Graveman are guy who can start games.
Also, erasing that trade and adding Donaldson, who BTW put up an obscene H/A split in 2015: 1.046/.830 OPS. His career OPS in Oakland is .780. So you wouldn’t have the same numbers, youd have a maybe .800/.830 guy. Adding that player to a 68 win team means what…75 wins instead? Who cares. Stop this ridiculous narrative.
Lawrie will be gone within a month.My point is that you don’t trade an elite 3B under team control for 4 years for no reason.That package was a joke
Right, and there might have been a very odd or extreme reason behind it that the media wont know about for years. Honestly though, if Graveman Nolin were replaced by Stroman no one would have said anything about that return. Beane’s only folly on this was his love of Sean Nolin, who he had been trying to trade for for years. That was a big mistake, as Nolin has both injuries and isn’t good.
even if Stroman was in the deal it still wouldn’t have made much difference
Yeah and if the deal doesnt happen it wouldnt have made a difference either. The pitching was what cost the team last year, not that trade. They lost 36 1-run games.
Barreto has not proven anything and I would not put him there with Russell. It will be hard to judge untill everyone is done playing but that is a hard trade to defend.
Buzz around prospect list-makers is that Barreto will be consensus top 20 and some are even going top 10 MLB next year. Nottingham is apparently in some peoples top 20 too.
it’s going to be a while before the final grade can be given for Oakland. For the Jays…the trade is an “A” no matter what Lawrie or the others do because they won the East and Donaldson was the MVP. Well done Toronto. But it’s not over for the A’s. Beane has a lot more hits than misses. He’s playing with a deck of 50 and probably will never be able to go out—but he makes due with what he’s got.
I guess people dont realize that beane is no longer the gm. This is a David Forst move. And a great one at that. As for Billy Butler id like to imagine they can somehow dump him off on a team for a platter of biscuits and gravy along with a low end PTBNL. If they can do b that id like them to get Henderson and Pedro Alvarez.
Forst is the GM, but Beane has final say on all moves and can also make moves on his own. He is still 100% in charge, Forst is still an assistant to him. “GM” doesn’t mean what it used to.
theres another move coming – there always is.Id bet he trades Doolittle – and Madson is the closer
I bet he tries to trade for one or two of Chapman, Melancon, Miller or Giles and they end up with 4 closer arms in the 2016 pen.
It’s the type of signing the A’s have to make. Look at the O’Day deal. If Madson is healthy (well he’s healthy now but if he never had the health issues) there’s another 15 million on the deal. A’s had to take a chance, they won’t be able to lock up a top free agent closer. And the pen was beyond terrible last year, and it has now been drastically overhauled. We started off with a great run differential, our pen was blowing all close games. With that part of our team being reworked we can really surprise people next year.
The dodgers missed out on Grienke, O’day and Madison.
It feels like the Dodgers are becoming the Lakers.
Hey the Dodgers did something. They got a manager, that is better than the Bad News Bears, and they signed Chase U, that dude can hit.! ROTFLMAO
They missed out on a lot more than that lol
Friedman and Co lose again.
If you listen to Ken Gurnick in LA, it’s not so much that Friedman wasn’t comfortable with the money, he miscalculated others willingness to not only dump dollars but add another year. Given their reported strong interest in Madson, wondering is this was another “miscalculation”. Time to sharpen up those models.
If they lose, as you called it, it’s because they chose to lose. They can outspend anyone but didn’t believe Madson was worth such money. Let’s wait until next season is over to determine who lost this offseason. The Padres “won” last off season and we see where that got them…….
Sreditor, clearly the Dodgers “lost” Greinke and he was someone they didn’t choose to lose. As for Madson, they were closely linked so perhaps they did choose to pass on him. And I did not imply that anything is won in the offseason. But the LA bullpen is not dependable, and the trade cost is likely prohibitive coupled with the prospects that they’re willing to trade won’t get them the quality they need.
However, there are so many unknowns and always the possibility that two or three kids will surprise and arrive early. The Dodgers will know early on what kind of year it will be.
Doolittle, Madson, Hendricks, Rzepczynski…two or three more to go then Beane will have the full bullpen overhaul he promised.
I think adding Chapman and making Doolittle setup for one year sure makes them an interesting team for 2016. They have the prospects to add Chapman and even Melancon if they wanted. Have we ever seen a team with like 4 closers in the pen?
Yeah, Royals playoff run in 2014.
Sorry, should have made that clearer: have we ever seen a team with 4 guys who had 30 saves at one point in the last 5 seasons?
Those standards don’t tell you much. The 2014 Dodgers had four guys like that, but still had a bad pen.
The A’s bullpen was the worse in baseball last year and ended with a bunch of waived AAA arms in the pen. So adding 4 new bullpen arms is only going to make them better. the A’s have money to spend since they do not have any long contracts for the future.
And let’s not forget that the Cubs did it this year. They employed Jason Motte, Rafael Soriano, Fernando Rodney and their primary closer Hector Rondon. Career highs of 42, 48, 45, and 30 saves, respectively. Though Rondon’s 30 was this year and Rodney came along after Motte and Soriano pitched their last games of the season.
Saves are pretty arbitrary, I suppose not with that specific of parameters, but a good bullpen is a good bullpen. I would still take KCs over the current OAK bullpen, but it looks like Beane is sure as hell trying to fix that
Right I agree saves are arbitrary, and my question was more pointed to that very idea: that they really could start a new trend and have a bunch of a recent closers who are in their primes all come in and save games, or adjust to a specific role in terms helping a team win. We all saw KC’s success ultimately happen because of their amazing pen, it looks like Beane is trying to get in the mix with that.
Dodgers. Carlos Marmol, chris perez, brandon league, brian wilson, kenley jansen
Is there enough offense in this Oakland team to warrant needing a top notch closer, or is he going to get 40 saves and they win 70 games again…i cant see Aroldis in Oakland.
As a Phillies fan, I’m happy for Madson. Great guy.
As for the A’s, they probably paid a bit much. Madson still has injury concerns. His arm fell off for 3 straight years. Hope he succeeds in Oakland.
Sortve what the market is for pitchers now a days
seems so long ago when Madson was represented by Boras, they ‘thought’ they had a deal with Philly until the Phillies pivoted and signed Papelbon–and Boras went nuts. Then Madson signing for much less money on a one year deal, getting hurt, signing for another one year deal, staying hurt–going apparently unsigned in 2014–three years out of the majors–and finally working himself back on a small contract in 2015. No more Boras. But what an interesting arc his career (and Papelbon, for that matter) took. Madson may be pitching longer than Papelbon
I remember that, he went from about to being one of the top paid closers to falling completely off the map before miraculously coming back and hitting 98 late in 2015. He’s also got 2 rings, another reason why a team who’s trying to contend like Oakland would covet him.
Beane is getting on the “build a better bullpen and follow the KC model” bandwagon. Probably too long and too much money, but they are building a pitching staff that may not be too bad.
If you’re a FA that signs with the A’s, you have to know that you aren’t going to play out your contract in Oakland. At some point, you’re going to get traded. Heck, that probably applies to most players with the A’s.
Barry Zito, Eric Chavez, Grant Balfour, Brandon McCarthy, Bartolo Colon and actually many, many of their FA signings played out their contracts without getting traded. Stop buying into silly narratives.
Thats no silly narrative. Realize thats about all you can name during the billy beane era. We cant evwn buy a god damn jersey with a players name on it because once we do the dude gets traded 3 months down the line.
So you’d rather not make the postseason but have the same players on the team for multiple years. Don’t support the A’s then, that’s not how they roll and has never been the way they roll – they traded Canseco when he was about to be a FA, remember?
He’s had one healthy season in the last 4 years.
Previous to that you could have said he had eight healthy seasons in a row. That would have screwed you. Past =/= future.
Looks like the run on relievers has started. First O’Day, and now Madson. Strap in and get ready for the ride. Save a Lefty for the Tigers.
None of the names I’m hoping for have come off the board yet… One more solid late innings type reliever and some filler… come on AlAv
So now the virus of inflated FA contracts has infected the RP market. I bet there will be a lot of trade activity at the meetings. I hope Avila keeps his eye on the big picture and not trade away our future for RP. Better to pay the Luxury Tax in 2016. With the contract expiring in Dec. 2016, the ceiling level more than likely will go up.
The trade market is about to heat up, considering the top 2 names on the FA market a border-line setup men in Clippard and Soria.
Someone please throw a ridiculous offer for Kenny Giles.
Good for Ryan. Hopefully he can stay healthy for the entirety of his contract.
All these deals should’ve happened during the winter meetings, yeah I guess it’s easier to sign now than wait but I like the surprises that happens there.
Looks like winter meetings will be the start of the big trades – which we havent really seen any of yet.
Relief pitcher run in free agency up next?
This signing means MLB has spent 1 billion dollars this off season. And we haven’t even tapped into the position players yet.
That is absolutely bonkers.
Going all the way back to Keith Foulke in 2003 getting $6M, the A’s have almost constantly thrown big-ish money at relievers. Arthur Rhodes, Octavio Dotel, Grant Balfour(gave up draft pick on him as well), paying Jim f’n Johnson $10M, Brain f’n Fuentes $10M too…this list isn’t one to ignore, it might be the only thing Beane has actually been consistent with his entire tenure. Expect him to keep at it, Chapman and his $13M aren’t going to be a thing that scares Oakland away, same with Melancon, Miller or even Giles.
Dont forget O’Flaherty (sigh) I feel like we are going to get one more solid piece in the pen by trading Lawrie or Valencia, and sign a veteran starter.
I definitely forgot a lot of guys…this isn’t something that should be ignored. I view this as Chapmans big salary not being anything that stands in the way of them getting Chapman.
Like this deal and like the moves we have made so far. Lets go Oakland!!!
Manaea looks SO good, A’s fans will be drooling if he comes up in 2016. Beane absolutely decimated the Astros, Royals and Mets on his deadline deals. KC will take the L because they got a title, but wow…the talent Beane got back for rentals of Zobrist, Kazmir
Really liked the Manaea deal, I feel like he can become something special. I also believe the deal with Houston where we got Nottingham was another good deal.
Heard rumors that Nottingham is getting bumped into many writers top 20 prospect lists when the 2016 lists come out, he’s projecting as a Napoli-type at the plate but with better defense aka an elite talent. Such an excellent return for Kazmir.
He was ranked 3rd by someone last week. Can’t remember who.
Season 1, 2, or 3 he gets traded? I’ll say before season 2.
no need to be so negative
This might be the worst move of the off-season, so far. Madson didn’t pitch for THREE years in a row because his arm was shot. So he rebounds and has a really good year at the age of 35, and now they’re banking on his arm holding up for his age 36-38 seasons? O”Day was by far the best reliever on the free agent market and he got 4 years and 7.75AAV; Madson gets 3 and 7.33AAV…
To placate the Beane fanboys, I’ll say that I really liked the 1 year gamble on Rich Hill for 6M.
No. The worst move of the offseason was the Nats hiring Dusty Baker to manage them. Nothing will ever top that.
Yeah that’s true haha. I can’t argue that.
It’s called tommy john, and it’s called sometimes older guys have setbacks before they make it back…. once they’re back, that new legitimate should last a few years. If anybody can last late in their career, it’s relievers.
and the thought of a reliever costing 22 mill total being a worse signing than 90 mill for Sharkmardzja through his age 36 season is just preposterous… get off your high horse.
So happy for him. Great guy. Worked hard for this and completely deserves it.
Everybody’s picking on BB but who made this move; was BB or the new GM David Forst?
Beane has final say on every move, moves can come directly from him and if Forst has a move he wants to make, Beane has to sign off on it.
I would jump on that kind of deal in a heart beat. Nice deal for Madson good for the Dodgers to not even match.. I wonder if trading Donaldson still hurts!!!
What are the chances they use Madson as the closer and Doolittle in setup?
Madson seems like he is more of a 1 inning pitcher, whereas Doolittle could be used for multiple innings and specifically against tough lefthanded hitters.
knowing the A’s they will trade him before the dealine for prospects like they always do with their off thewall (after they breakup the team) FA singings.
This makes sense for Oakland how exactly? I’d appreciate it if someone can help me with their thinking here because I can’t see it.
our pen sucks period
Huh? It makes sense because he was nails last year and they’re trying to upgrade their pen. 7 mill for a vet with 2 rings and high leverage situation experience is nothing anymore. Doo, Madson, and LIam Hendricks will be a nice 7,8,9 for them.
Are you honestly of the opinion that the A’s are not trying to upgrade their team?
For me, the most interesting thing about signing Madson is that this contract all but guarantees he’ll be in Oakland for all of the 2016 season. You’re not going to sign a guy to a 3-year deal and flip him early in the deal like Beane likes to do with other players. It might also make Doollittle a more attractive trade piece as he’s only owed a shade over $9 mil through 2018. If Doolittle comes out strong but the team doesn’t Beane could easily turn Doolittle into two or three pieces from a contending team that loses a key bullpen part during the first half of the season.
He just won a ring. Why not take little discount and stay in kc. He’s gonna be traded at the end of the 2016 season. Billy beane never keeps players that do well. Tbh I’m shocked he still hasn’t traded coco crisp aside from no one wanting an aging cf with zero power and fast declining speed.
unless you really love living in KC ….why on earth would you take a discount to stay there or any other place? This is a business. You make enough money and when you retire, you can afford to live any place you wish. Congrats to the Royals for winning but KC is not exactly a glamour city.
Totally agree with you Lance, Bay>K.C. by far.
More like: more money > less money by far.
I like this move. We were desperate for pen help, and now are open to all upgrades/future signings. Looks as if we plan to be a fringe contender this year, with a good chance of being a surprise wild card. Would’ve been an 86 win ball club if they won half the 36 1 run losses
He’s going to trade Doolittle. The Cubs are looking for a closer and the A’s spending that much on a setup man is unlikely. I think Madson will be the closer.
They spent more than this on a setup man the last two years (Johnson and Clippard) and Doolittel is very cheap.